I’m hearing the term ‘artist’ bandied around a lot lately. Maybe it’s a bit of strutting, maybe not. Maybe it’s just time actors claimed the title, and admitted egolessly to being exactly that. The word ‘actor’ works for me, but so also does ‘artist’ when it’s used by someone who’s talented, experienced, and who’s paid
Continue reading ...But not any old night. Another class of actors enters the industry at their showcase performance and end of three years of intensive training. Their lovely talent shone through despite the grunginess of the venue. As always, I felt as though a bunch of fledglings was leaving the nest and needed protection. No, let them
Continue reading ...Stumbled upon this vidcast from Canadian educator Dean Shareski given at the 2007 K-12 Online Conference. Dean’s nicely produced 25′ video discusses the importance of design in education. He’s even produced a teaser trailer on YouTube. Now that’s innovative! Dean roams across design principles introducing some innovative ways of thinking about classroom space as well
Continue reading ...Fellow-blogger Sue Waters cry for help on how to organise herself for a conference trip, evoked a stream of advice and tips. I couldn’t wait to join the queue ready to tell her how to reduce travel-anxiety, make lists, pack the right stuff, and arrive unflustered, have a great conference, and leave with everything (including
Continue reading ...This curve-ball question came straight at me this week in class. I had confidently tossed off one of my favourite bon mots ‘As an actor your most important muscle is imagination.’ Back came the question and it’s a good one. How do you cultivate your imagination? Got me thinking. I came across a post this
Continue reading ...I came across this neat way of taking notes some time back, but it’s come back again like a boomerang! Perhaps it’s the time of year when students in Queensland are starting to eye the calendar nervously. The jacaranda trees are putting out the first blue blooms … a traditional sign that exams are round
Continue reading ...There’s the talk of creativity in the air. Did it every go away, or is it just spring or serendipity that the creative play approach for educators is all around. My own presentation’s premise on Purposeful Play (at last week’s USQ 3rd International Pedagogies Conference) was reflected in a nice post Unlocking Teacher Creativity: a
Continue reading ...I spent the last day of the working week at yet another conference. How much of this can a girl take! USQ’s 3rd International Pedagogies and Learning Conference was held this year at the Springfield campus, in the outer Ipswich-Brisbane suburbs. This corridor is one of the fastest growing in Australia, and if the immigrants
Continue reading ...The excesses of the Conference Dinner still fresh in mind, Day 3 began. After 2+ days of concentration, far too much coffee and eyes that started to pack it in from starting at screens small and large, keeping up with the sessions let alone blogging proved something of a strain. As I noted a day
Continue reading ...I delivered my paper Caught in the Web this morning. I think it was well received. I decided not to read it, but to take Keynote for a spin with a presentation that was heavy on visuals and light on text. I wanted the presentation to focus on several of the key themes my paper
Continue reading ...